Represented in regal state seated on a throne her left hand holding a palm tree branch. Her royal head points to the Arctic Circle. She is surrounded by the royal family.
Her husband the king is on her left. Her son-in-law, Perseus, is on her right. Her daughter Andromeda is just beneath her.
All are said to be wondering when she will fix dinner.
Cassiopeia is easily recognized by its “W” shape formed by its five bright stars in the shape of her chair or throne.
Cassiopeia was the wife of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia. She was also the mother of Andromeda. Cassiopeia believed herself to be a queen of unparalleled beauty, more beautiful than Jupiter’s sister Juno or the Nereides (sea nymphs).
She may indeed have deserved the reputation, but her bragging about it didn’t sit too well with the ladies of the sea. They took it as a personal insult and complained about it to Neptune the brother of Jupiter. Neptune allowed that the complaints might hold water and as a start sent a sea monster to ravage the coast to punish her for insolence. Next, he demanded that she chain her daughter, Andromeda, to a rock on the beach, leaving her exposed to the fury of the sea monster. Cassiopeia did as she was told, and the monster licked his chops in delicious anticipation. That was all the taste he got, however, for Perseus stepped in just in the nick of time and saved the fair young maiden.
“The saviour youth the royal pair confess,
And with heav’d hands, their daughter’s bridegroom bless.”
- Eusden’s Ovid